Christmas Past is Always Present

Charles Dickens was onto something when he wrote “A Christmas Carol”. Whether Ebeneezer Scrooge was visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present or Yet to Be or whether as he said to Jacob Marley, his seven years dead former partner:

You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!

Radio City Music Hall is one of the most beautiful theaters on the planet. Taking our son to see the Christmas Spectacular was as much for my husband and I as for our son. I love (present tense) the Rockettes. I love the whole show. The last act is the “Living Nativity”. Spectacularly costumed actors, live animals and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”.

One year, we went to the 21 Club. At Christmas, the Salvation Army Band leads Christmas Carols at lunchtime at the 21 Club. After the singing, they pass the hat. We sat at Fred Trump’s table. Yes, the father of our President-elect had his own table at the 21 Club. There is a plaque that says so. Of course we visited the tree and the ice rink at Rockefeller Center. So quintessentially, New York at Christmas.

That was my son’s childhood. Sometimes we ate at Burger Heaven. Then, on to the Metro North train back to Connecticut. I remember one year our son stretched out across our laps sound asleep. He was hot, sweaty and heavy. We wouldn’t have moved him for anything.

The baby, on left, in Afghanistan. Right is his best friend.

A couple of years ago, that precious baby boy was deployed to Afghanistan for ten months. Christmas fell during this time. Christmas came anyway. We put up a small tree and were grateful to have each other

This year, the baby has staff duty on Christmas Day. Mom and Dad are used to being Army parents now. The baby will drive home two days after Christmas and this year…he…is…bringing…a…girl.

William Koprince, son of Bernice Koprince,loved to take selfies — even before selfies were so popular. This one just happened to be on his birthday, about 15 months before he died. He had just arrived home on leave.Kim Harrison and Bernice Koprince are both Gold Star moms; both of their sons died in the line of duty overseas. They both work in the Department of History.Army Specialist G. Daniel Harrison died on December 2, 2004, in Mosul, Iraq. He was in the 293rd Military Police Company and was killed in combat, saving the lives of other soldiers on patrol that day. He was 22.US Marine Corps Lance Corporal William C. Koprince Jr. was serving his third overseas deployment, and his second in Iraq, when he was killed by an improvised explosive device on December 27, 2006, in the city of Habbaniyah during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was 24.

Is it that we are celebrating the birth of Emanuel that our Christmases Past are so present? The birth of Jesus Christ is the reason we celebrate each year. A baby is the reason. We see Christmas through a child’s eyes.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Good, bad, happy or sad. Christmas memories are so precious. Christmas Past leads to Christmas Present and, the Good Lord willing, Christmas Yet to Be. A child is born. Emanuel. How blessed we are!